Heart of a Wanderer: Isabella's Travel Albums

Between 1867 and 1895, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her husband Jack traveled the world. Enabled  by their wealth and status, Isabella and Jack crossed continents and countries by boat, by rail, and on foot. On these trips, Isabella collaged photographs, found papers, and botanical samples into albums peppered with watercolors and annotations in her own hand. Experience the world through Isabella’s eyes as a traveler in the nineteenth century–and learn about the global influences on her collection and curatorial vision and how her travels were informed by the historical context of European imperialism. Responses by scholars and artists help us examine what is missing from the pages of these albums and how what is present, both real and imagined, reflects Isabella’s perception of foreign cultures from the position of a privileged American tourist.